HTC makes the One mini official

After narrowing the focus of its product line down to a singular flagship, HTC is ready to tackle the mid-range. So following months of rumors, HTC has pulled back the curtain on its new flagship designed for smaller budgets and smaller hands, the HTC One mini.

The One mini (yes, the "mini" is lowercase, Apple-style) retains the same design language as its 4.7-inch cousin. That isn't to say that it's exactly the same though. Here there's a prominent polycarbonate band around the edges (much thicker than the plastic band on the standard One), with the back sticking with the familiar aluminum look.

The HTC One mini has a 4.3-inch 720p screen, which comes out to a sharp 341 pixels-per-inch. It rocks a dual-core Snapdragon 400 processor, clocked at 1.4 GHz. It has 1 GB of RAM, another downgrade from its big brother.

The "UltraPixel" camera and its "Zoes" return as well. On a spec level, that again means a 4-megapixel rear shooter, but with larger pixels that make its relatively low pixel count a somewhat moot point. The phone runs Android 4.2.2 with Sense 5, which also has HTC's Flipboard-like news and social hub, BlinkFeed, living on the home screen.

So what's different, aside from some downgraded components and a little less aluminum? Well, there's no NFC. There's no IR blaster, so you can forget about changing channels on your TV with this bad boy. The camera also doesn't have Optical Image Stabilization, so the shakey-handed need not apply.

HTC hasn't yet announced pricing for the One mini, but the company did tell Android Central that it would be sold "at two price points below" the standard One. Take that as you will. It will start rolling out in August, followed by a full global launch in September.

Will Shanklin is Gizmag's Mobile Tech Editor, and has been part of the team since 2012. Will has a Master's degree from U.C. Irvine and a Bachelor's from West Virginia University. He currently lives in New Mexico with his wife, Jessica.All articles by Will Shanklin